Introduction to “The Brown Wasps”
In his essay, “The Brown Wasps”, Loren Eiseley has shown a myriad features of life, which if explored in depth, demonstrate something hidden in the deep recesses of the psyche of living things. These could be desires for food, a refuge from looming threats, or mind-jolting memories of the past. He has beautifully compared and contrasted human life with that of brown wasps, of field mice, and pigeons, concluding that certain features are common in the lives of human beings and animals, for they are rooted in their respective natures. The mortality demands that all living things should strive for comfort and for illusions to cling to having a sense of protection and for prodding of the memories of the past, Eisely argues. However, the world changes fast from the present to the past and welcomes the future. Amid this change and cacophony of transformative voices, life continues to live by the ruins of the past, trying to mold itself to the changes of the future. This essay argues that living things do not leave their comfort zones, their memories of the past and their illusions to live by even if there is no hope.
“The Brown Wasps” and Nature of Animals
Every living thing passes a certain time of its life at a certain place that becomes its home. It is the same with animals, insects, and human beings. They never leave this comfort zone even with impending doom. Loren Eiseley has cited examples of wasps that are not ready to leave their hive despite freezing temperatures and the risk of being dropped “away into the white oblivion of the snow” (Eiseley pr. 1). It is the same case with human beings. The officer shoves away the old man from the station, but he never leaves and comes again. It is his comfort zone or home. The field mouse, he says, is not ready to leave the room of the author, for it has been living at that place, which Eiseley says, matters the most. Eiseley argues, “It is the place that matters, the place at the heart of the things” (6). The same is the case of pigeons that have been living at the station, a home for them. Therefore, they are not ready to leave it. Even, we, as human beings, do not become ready to leave the comforts of our homes until there is a dire need to do so.
“The Brown Wasps” and Memories
Another feature of human beings and living things is to be attached to memories. It is surprising that memories work for human beings as well as animals. It is the nostalgia that makes a person or an animal feel a need for the past event or home. For example, Eiseley argues that “We cling to a time and place because without them man is lost, “for he has known that he is referring wasps, slugs, mice and pigeons too and that they are also part of this journey of life (pr. 7). The wasps cannot go anywhere, for it is snowing and it is the only place they know. The field mouse sees that the place is taken over. Therefore, it leaves to take refuge in the author’s room but does not leave the place, for “It was the only place he knew” (pr. 11). The arrival of the pigeon again on the railway station, when it witnesses ruination, is a “curious instance of the memory of living things” (pr. 18). And above all, Eiseley himself returns to his old home to see the tree for his and his father’s memories. Therefore, the memories and nostalgia of the past is the mainstay of the mortal life on this earth, which provides an impetus to live by. The same is the cause with other human beings too. It is because a person always gives importance to his memories. He keeps in his mind where he has passed his life. This association with memories and nostalgia about the past makes him revert to his past again and again like animals.
“The Brown Wasps” and Dreams
Illusions and fantasies play an important role in making a person continue living with the hope of finding them one day exactly like he lives by his dreams. If there are no illusions and no fantasies, a person becomes disillusioned and desperate. Life does not look worth living. These are dreams to live one’s life sticking to them for his entire life. Eiseley argues in “The Brown Wasps”, in the case of a field mouse, these are invisible dreams which come to use in every other shape (pr. 15). He says these dreams are necessary to live peacefully and hopefully in this world. The pigeons return after a few days with the illusion that the river would have flown after a “momentary drought” (pr. 17). In the same way, about the blind man, he says that he continues sitting over there in hopes that all will be well. The writer himself continues harboring the same illusion for the cottonwood sapling he and his father watered when he was a boy. He comments that “Life disappears or modifies its appearances so fast that everything takes on an aspect of illusion” that is to fade quickly (pr. 9). Sampling, in his mind, is a “part of [his] orientation” without which he could not have survived (pr. 23). This has been an illusion for him. He has passed his entire life for it. These illusions make up almost half of the life of human beings.
Conclusion
Loren Eiseley has beautifully summed up the role of the comfort zone, memories, and illusion in the life of living things in “The Brown Wasps”. However, he has created a little distinction in that the animal world only sees comfort and food, but human beings have unique feelings of nostalgia that drive them madly in love with their past. His visit to his former home, around 2,000 kilometers away, just to see that tree is part of the same nostalgic feelings he had had for his father and that place. Maybe the pigeons have the same feelings, the reason they return, but it is not proven. In fact, he is of the view that time passes quickly, but living things continue living with memories, with the love of the place they get food from and the memory of that loving place. It is how life continues on this earth.
Works Cited
Leiseley, Loren. “The Brown Wasps.” The Naturalist. n. d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.
